The number of people killed in traffic crashes on Vermont roads in 2017 climbed to the highest level in four years, records show — prompting lawmakers to consider tougher regulations regarding seat belt use.

Sixty-nine people lost their lives in 63 vehicle wrecks, according to Vermont State Police data. That figure is the highest since 2013, when 71 people died in 65 crashes.

Traffic safety officials have been keeping an especially close eye on the death toll since the beginning of 2017, when the number of fatalities spiked in the first quarter.

The 16 deaths from January through March represented the highest total for that period since 2012 and put the state on pace for 64 fatalities this year, a figure just under the 10-year average.

Officials had hoped the pace would slacken, but instead it continued to climb.

"It's disappointing," said Lt. John Flannigan, commander of the Vermont State Police's safety programs. "We have to look at ways we can reduce crashes."

Law enforcement officers attributed the spike in fatalities largely to the habits of people on the roads.

"Driver impairment, speed, failure to use restraints and distracted driving continue to be the leading causes for these tragedies," Shelburne police Lt. Allen Fortin wrote in an email announcing stepped-up enforcement of traffic safety laws during the holiday season.

Video equipment in a Vermont State Police cruiser shows Trooper Jay Riggen as he speaks with a driver suspected of speeding on Fisher Pond Road in St. Albans on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017. ADAM SILVERMAN/FREE PRESS

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Half of the fatal 2017 crashes involved drivers impaired by alcohol or drugs, state police data show. More than a third of the people killed were not wearing seat belts. Speeding also played a role in numerous wrecks, Flannigan said — and statistics show that speeding offenses, too, reached a five-year high in Vermont.

Another factor that has contributed to fatal crashes nationwide is the improving economy, said Russ Rader of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington, Virginia.

"What happens after a recession is that more hazardous driving comes back," Rader said. "When people feel better about the outlook for their jobs, they feel good about their economic prospects, they're more likely to engage in more hazardous travel. That would include going out to the bars on the weekend, going on long vacation trips on unfamiliar roads, and those tend to be more hazardous miles."

Crashes statewide

Deaths on Vermont's roads have been increasing since 2014, when the state recorded a modern-era record low of 44 people killed in crashes. The figure increased to 57 the next year and climbed to 64 in 2016, according to state data. The all-time high is 161 deaths in 1979 — toward the end of 21 consecutive years in which more than 100 people were killed in wrecks.

In 2017, fatal crashes occurred throughout Vermont — from major highways to small secondary roads. Victims ranged in age from 18 to 91. One crash left four people dead. Eight pedestrians were killed during the year. Fourteen of the people who died were passengers. Men outnumbered women among the dead by nearly 3 to 1.

In this image taken from video on Monday, Aug. 7, 2017, emergency personnel work at the scene of a fatal accident in Bridport, Vt. The four occupants of the car, who died, were not wearing seat belts. Vermont public safety officials on Tuesday, Aug. 8, urged drivers to buckle up and said state police would be more visible after a spike in fatal crashes in recent days have killed eight people. Seven of the eight killed were not wearing seat belts.(Photo11: Jaime Brassard/WPTZ-TV via AP)

The frequency of deaths at times in 2017 was startling.

Seven people were killed in four car crashes over a 16-hour span that began just before midnight Aug. 7: three separate wrecks across the state in which one person died, and a two-car collision on Vermont 22A in Bridport that killed four people.

Police later determined the driver in the Bridport wreck who crossed the center line and hit a pickup truck head-on had a high concentration of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana, in his blood, and also appeared to have been speeding and was suffering from fatigue.

A Vermont State Police crash investigator examines the scene of a double fatal crash between a car and a small truck at the intersection of Berlin Street and Vermont 62 in Barre City on Feb. 22, 2017. One of the two elderly sisters occupying the sedan died on scene. The other sister died from her injuries in the hospital. (Photo11: Stefan Hard/The Times Argus)

Seat belt enforcement

The rise in deaths has reignited a conversation at the Statehouse in Montpelier about enforcement of seat belt laws. Today the law requires seat belt use but doesn't allow a police officer to make a traffic stop only for a seat belt violation — something known as secondary enforcement.

During the 2018 legislative session, lawmakers will take up a proposal to make seat belt laws a primary offense, allowing vehicle stops for a violation, said Rep. Pat Brennan of Colchester.

"We had a tough summer with a string of unbelted deaths, all kind of sandwiched in a short time. That raised a little public awareness of the situation," Brennan said, noting the four victims of the Bridport crash were unbuckled. "It got me thinking. I've never been a proponent of primary seat belts, to be honest with you."

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The state of Vermont averages about 13,000 motor-vehicle crashes a year, according to the Transportation Agency.
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But Brennan, a Republican who chairs the House Committee on Transportation, said now is the time to have the discussion.

"I've always thought it was a person's own choice whether to belt themselves in and be safer, or take their own chances," he said. "But there comes a time in legislation when we have to look out for the traveling public. It's about looking out for the other guy. I'm not a big fan of playing Big Brother and telling people what to do, but there comes a time."

Rader, the spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said states that have primary seat belt enforcement see more people buckling up — which leads to enhanced safety in crashes. Nationally, about 90 percent of motorists buckle up, Rader said. In Vermont, the figure stands at 80 to 85 percent.

"We need to do everything we can to get that last group of holdouts buckled up," Rader said.

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Video equipment in a Vermont State Police cruiser shows Trooper Jay Riggen as he speaks with a driver suspected of speeding on Fisher Pond Road in St. Albans on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017.(Photo11: ADAM SILVERMAN/FREE PRESS)

He also spoke of the need to crack down on speeding, impairment and other reckless behavior behind the wheel if Americans are truly serious about reducing fatalities on the road.

Flannigan, the Vermont State Police lieutenant, said enforcement is only part of the solution. Traffic safety experts consider "the four Es," he said: enforcement, engineering (of roads), education (of drivers) and EMS (including the response times to crash scenes of emergency medical services personnel).

Ultimately, responsibility lies with motorists, State Trooper Jay Riggen said during a recent patrol in Franklin County. There's a "social contract," he said, on the roads, especially when people are driving heavy, fast hunks of metal. "Guided missiles," he called them.

"Every day," Riggen said, "there are lives and property lost, caused by people who had no intention to do anything like that, but it happened anyway because of decisions they made."

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Vermont State Trooper Jay Riggen hands a ticket to a driver suspected of speeding on U.S. 7 in Swanton on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017.(Photo11: ADAM SILVERMAN/FREE PRESS)

Highway deaths

The number of people killed in crashes on Vermont roads in 2017 was the highest since 2013. A look at the number of fatalities: